Tech that: UK Departure Boards
If you have a train geek in your life, this product is for them!
Available at ukdepartureboards.co.uk
Price: From £184.99 to £384.99
What is it?
Probably one of the coolest and strangest things I’ve reviewed in a while. The UK Departure Board is an LED board which comes in three sizes and allows you to see real-time train service data for any UK train station, including rail, tube, DLR, bus and tram. I know what you’re thinking – why would anyone want this? Good question! Before we start let me begin by saying I know it’s a very niche product for a very small group of people who love technology and trains. Luckily for me, I’m both!
Plus points
• The boards are handmade in the UK with precision and care. The quality really shows. Not often we can say that these days.
• Setup of the board is fairly simple and straight forward. Parts of it did feel a bit jury-rigged but it doesn’t detract from the experience.
• Logging in to the back end of the board gives you a plethora of options to play with to your heart’s content. There are too many to list here but some of my favourites are: being able to cycle through multiple stations at different times of day, the weather widget and the ‘this train is approaching’ warning.
• Almost everything is customisable in granular detail. Even down to the font colour that’s used to display times.
• For an additional subscription fee you can unlock features such as animation effects, icons, a full screen clock option and my favourite feature – voice packs!
• As part of the premium subscription, voice packs serenade you with ‘next train’ announcements, service and station updates. This is made even better as they are voiced by official National Rail and London Underground voiceover artists.
• The newer board which I’m reviewing (Gen 4) has a built-in speaker so no need to plug in an external one to hear announcements.
Nil points
• There’s no two ways about it. This product is expensive, and there’s a justified reason for that. These are hand produced one by one for each order. It will most likely take some time to build up economies of scale to bring the price down as hoped by the manufacturer.
• A recent cyber attack on TFL meant that accessing real-time tuba data from its servers has been halted. As frustrating as that is, it can still source DLR and Network Rail data in the meantime.
Rating: ✡✡✡✡
Verdict: Overall, this product will appeal to a handful of people with a bit of disposable income. If you fall into that slim category and you absolutely love trains, then this is a one-of-a-kind device that is worth the money.
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